In the United Stated there are currently millions of children being treated for ADHD, and that number is steadily growing. Currently, the most popular treatment for ADHD is medication; usually some form of amphetamine. There is a trend towards medicating children at younger and younger ages, and continuing to medicate them throughout their school years (at least). The process of medicating in itself is a process of trial and error. Doctors prescribe different medications at different doses until the parents and teachers of the children feel satisfied with the outcome. There is no medical test to absolutely determine whether or not a child has ADHD and there is no way to pre-determine a successful treatment plan. Additionally, long term effects of these medical treatments are unknown. For these reasons, the system is currently using millions of children as guinea pigs in ADHD treatment trials without any permission at all.
Children are labeled ADHD when they cannot sit and attend to the rigorous school day. I feel that, rather than studying medical procedures to mold children into the students we want them to be, we should be studying classroom procedures that allow children to be successful without altering their natural temperaments and personalities. If I had unlimited time and resources, I would study ways to change the educational system to allow children to feel happy, safe, comfortable, and able without medication. I strongly believe that it is not the children that must be altered but rather the system.
Sunday, May 22, 2011
Saturday, May 14, 2011
Research Simulation: Technological Play Versus Nature Play
I am quite single minded in my passion for re-inserting nature into children's lives. Technology has improved the human condition in many ways, but it has, at the same time, pulled us away from our foundation. Humans are an integral part of the natural world, we are connected to all living things on earth and to the earth itself - but we have come to a place of feeling disconnected. We no longer understand where we fit into the natural balance. This puts the human race as well as all life on Earth at risk.
I am greatly concerned about how the influence of technology is affecting current generation of children's sense of self. I have observed that children are negatively affected on an emotional level when using computers and video games. They become easily frustrated, have less desire to cooperate with others, become manipulative, dishonest, aggressive and generally difficult. When outside playing, I rarely see these traits in the same groups of children. I therefore, would like to look at the social and emotional effects technology has on children compared to the social and emotional effects of exposure to nature.
How to do this in a quantitative way, however, poses some difficulty. I considered a few different approaches to this project, however, given the limited resources at my disposal, I decided that I would use a tallying approach. I will simply observe the same group of children for equal amounts of time playing video games and playing outside. During these observations I will count the number of negative social and emotional occurances (ex. - lying, arguing, belittling) during each experience. I will repeat my observations over time, and will then compare my results. In this way, I will have data regarding the effects of technology and the effects of nature on children's social and emotional health.
I am greatly concerned about how the influence of technology is affecting current generation of children's sense of self. I have observed that children are negatively affected on an emotional level when using computers and video games. They become easily frustrated, have less desire to cooperate with others, become manipulative, dishonest, aggressive and generally difficult. When outside playing, I rarely see these traits in the same groups of children. I therefore, would like to look at the social and emotional effects technology has on children compared to the social and emotional effects of exposure to nature.
How to do this in a quantitative way, however, poses some difficulty. I considered a few different approaches to this project, however, given the limited resources at my disposal, I decided that I would use a tallying approach. I will simply observe the same group of children for equal amounts of time playing video games and playing outside. During these observations I will count the number of negative social and emotional occurances (ex. - lying, arguing, belittling) during each experience. I will repeat my observations over time, and will then compare my results. In this way, I will have data regarding the effects of technology and the effects of nature on children's social and emotional health.
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